Thimble cap for metal bar eyes



July 7, 1931. H. R. SAXON 1,812,987

THIMBLE CAP FOR METAL BAR EYES Filed July 17, 1930 Patented July 7, 1931 UNITED STA f. HERMAN a. sexoinos TOLEDO, GHI-O THIMBLE CAP FOR METAL BAR EYES Application filed July 1'7, 1930.

My invention has for its object to provide a decorative masking means for metal parts or bars, such as the eyes and ends of the supporting bar of automobile bumpers and bumperettes, hinges and other interfitting or supporting members. The particular object of my invention is to provide a relatively small thimble cap, so constructed that it can easily be sprung about the eye of the supporting bar or bars of said bumper or bumperettes after the said thimble cap has been plated or decorated to conform to the plating or decoration of the bumper bars, and which by its elasticity will resist removal from the end of the supporting bar.

Heretofore the eyes and ends of supportings bars have been partially plated or decorated in order to complete the aesthetic scheme of the bumper bars. The plating or decoration of such end parts has been found, after a certain time, to chip off and wear away due to the fact that the plating is only partial in its covering and also the relative position of the end of the supporting bar to that of the remainder of the parts is one that causes it to receive the greater number of impacts from collision. By the use of my invention, these parts are covered by a metal cap which may be easily plated or decorated and then mounted at a small cost.

The invention may be contained in thimble caps that vary in their details, and, to illustrate a practical ap lication of the invention, I have selected one orm of construction as an example of the different embodiments of the invention and shall describe it hereinafter. The thimble cap selected as an example is shown in the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the thimble cap. Fig. 2 is a top view of a bumper with the thimble cap installed. Fig. 3 is a front view of the bumper with the thimble cap installed. Fig. 4 illustrates the relative position of the eye of the supporting bar and the thimble cap preparatory to the installation of the thimble cap.

The thimble cap 1 shown for purposes of illustration may be stamped from a sheet metal plate. The cap 1 is cup shaped and has an outwardly curved wall 2, which rethrough the eyes of the bumper bars and the Serial No. 468,573.

turns on itself. A section of the wall 2 is cut out to form an opening 3 for receiving within the cup portion the curved end or eye 4 of the supporting bar 5 of the bumper 6. The curved-in edge of the ball shaped cap elastically engages the edge of the eye 4 around which the thimble cap is placed and, thus, encloses the eye and its edge. The edge of the cap snaps over the edge of the eye when it is placed in position. The opening 3 enables 3 expansion of the cap and acts to keep the cap from rotating on the eye 4.

The thimble cap 1 is further held in its installed position by a bolt 7 which extends :5 eye 4 of the supporting bar 5 in a manner well known in the art. A hole 8 is formed in the bottom circular portion 9 of the cup shaped thimble cap 1 and is substantially the same diameter as that of the eye 4 of the supporting bar. The hole 8 is placed in alignment with the eye 4 of the supporting bar and allows the bolt 7 to pass through it, as the bolt is being driven through the eyes of the I bumper bar and the supporting bar, to con- W Eect the supporting bar with the bumper ars.

The thimble cap may before installation be subjected to a plating process or decorated in furtherance of a desired color scheme of the bumpers or bumperettes, and may, after wear or mutilation, be readily removed to be replated or redecorated or, if desired, may be replaced altogether at a very low cost.

I claim:

1. In combination with a supporting member having an eye, a removable elastic metal cap having spheroidal walls adapted to fit around said eye, the edge portions of the cap adapted to enclose and engage an edge portion of the eye.

2. In combination with a bumper having a supporting bar, the supporting bar having an eye, a removable thimble cap having a circular opening, a bolt extending through said eye and the circular opening of the thimble cap to hold said cap in its installed position.

3. In combination with a bumper having a supporting bar, the supporting bar having an eye, a removable cup shaped thimble cap have ing an opening in its bottom portion, and a cut-out portion in its Walls, a bolt extending through the opening in the bottom portion and through said eye, and the supporting bar extending through the cut-out portion to hold said cap in its installed position.

4;. In combination with a bumper having a supporting bar, the supporting bar having an eye, a plated metal cap adapted to be sprung about said eye.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto-signed my name to this specification.

HERMAN R. SAXON. 

